Thursday, 24 January 2013

FATBURGER ~ Las Vegas NV

OCT 2012

Day 3 of being in Las Vegas. We had a busy day touring around, and had a great evening at Cirque de Soliel's "Ka" (amazing show by the way). We wanted something to eat but just had no clue where to go. We walked a bit on the strip and we came across Fatburger.

There were two distinctly different parts to this chain (that I had never heard of before this moment) and I'm assuming its a Las Vegas difference: the fast food/take out inside and the bar/patio outside. We sat on the outside because the weather was awesome.

Coming from an region that has snow for possibly 5-6 month, seeing a permanant outdoor establishment seems odd. Also, the proliferation of booze everywhere in Vegas makes bars seem less likely when I can head into any casino and get a drink for free.

Inside is self service but outside, we had a server. Jenna was friendly but not super available. It took a little while for our drinks to come. I had Coke, and it tasted amazing - like it was made with cane sugar. I asked Jenna if it was anything special and she said no, asking if it was ok. I said it was great, and she said good, most people complain that it isn't good. Huh.

I wanted to sample a bunch of things off the menu, but my and LJ's tastes were in alignment that night. Burger and chili cheese fries.

The above is their "Small" burger ($4.50). You can go Med, Lg, XXL and XXL, a 24oz tripple burger for $13. Toppings are standard but you can add on bacon, cheese, chili as well as an egg. The above burger just had a few standards on it (onion, cheese, mayo, pickles, relish) and I had a bite and agreed with LJ, it was tasty. Nice bark on the flatop grilled burger, tender meat, fresh bun. A little greasy but it was really good.

The chili cheese fries ($5) my look very tasty, or very revolting depending on your position. I thought they looked heart cloggingly awesome. It was actually melted cheese (as opposed to cheese sauce). The fries were ok, but really they are just a vehicle for the chili and cheese. You also get to choose 'fat' fries or 'skinny'; we went with skinny.

Oh it turns out they had wings too.

There is no mention of wings on Fatburger's website, nor were they available inside the restaurant, only the patio/bar area. So this might be a Vegas thing only. Wings came in orders of 6 or 12, and the price was pretty inflated, but then again, it is the strip.

My wings came with exactly one celery stick and one carrot stick. I mean, really what was the point? And then my dip on the side was a packet of David Newman blue cheese dressing. This just seemed a little silly.

The wings were pretty big surprisingly. Large at best, on the larger side of medium at their worst. They were also pretty meaty. The skin was crisp, and even had an airy quality which made for a nice snap when biting into them. The wings were nice and saucy too.

There is only hot and mild sauces to choose from, so I went with hot. FYI, it's not even hot. So mild and maybe medium. But I didn't really expect heat from a fast food chain. It was a classic Buffalo sauce, very orange, and pretty good.

FINAL SCORE:
These were some tasty wings. I wasn't expecting that. Good size wings. Crispy skin. Tasty sauce. The chili cheese fries were a great side. The burgers were pretty good too. I would definitely go back to Fatburger and it turned out to be our best meal in Vegas. That's cool and sad at the same time. 6/10